Story: Ron Hart

Sci-fi instrumentalists Zombi create some of the creepiest analog soundtracks to your worst nightmares since Wendy Carlos’ haunting work for Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. However, on his solo debut for Relapse Records, entitled The Henge, keymaster Steve Moore has created a snythesized symphony more on par with Rebecca DeMornay’s hot train fuck scene in Risky Business than running into the scariest girls of all time in the hall of the Overlook Hotel. To celebrate this most excellent release, IRT recently asked this modern-day Vangelis for the doom-metal set to list his five favorite synth-based albums of all time, and here’s what he gave us:

Tangerine Dream Stratosfear

Best of Artist and Best of Genre, definitely. This was the first Tangerine Dream album I heard, and really the album that got me interested in Berlin School-style electronic composition in the first place. The combination of stark, minimal bass sequences against a wash of mellotron and blues-based guitar licks opened new worlds for me. Every time I listen to this album I get the same feeling I did when I first heard it.

Michael Hoenig Departure From The Northern Wasteland.

Hoenig’s propulsive sequencing and dramatic synth leads give this album a sense of urgency and motion that draws the listener in, whisking him or her away to far off, fabled lands. I probably didn’t need to include “her” in that last sentence.

John Carpenter Halloween III: Season of the Witch Soundtrack

Though the film’s worth has been debated for decades, the soundtrack is untouchable.

Frantic and lopsided sequences with gnarly, cross-modulated Prophet 5 stingers. There are very serene moments as well, giving this soundtrack a depth rarely achived in either horror film soundtracks or electronic albums. And for the record, I really did like this movie.

Klaus Schulze Moondawn

It is difficult to accept that a man made this album, and that it hasn’t always existed like the elements. This album is as spacey and droney and lush and dreamy and hypnotic as anything you could hope to ever imagine - only Schulze imagined and realized all of this over 30 years ago. For reference: “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” by Elton John and Kiki Dee and “Silly Love Songs” by Wings were the top singles of that year.

Steve Roach The Magnificent Void

While it isn’t quite old enough to have achieved classic status (recorded in 1996), it is rapidly becoming one of my favorites. The 20-minute-long closing track, “Altus,” is a dark and vast soundscape built around a simple, repetitive chord progression, but the result is so massive and climactic one might feel pangs of withdrawal when the track inevitably ends.

From The Syndicate Blog. I am in shock about this news. Myself, Danny Boy and Frank McGar were there just this week on Monday and its just a terrible tragedy. I am optimistic, however, that Looney Tunes will be open for business once again sooner than later. It is one of my all-time favorite record shops and one of the last vestiges for true music fans on Long Island. The IRT sends our prayers and thoughts to Karl Jr. and Jaime. I cannot believe this. -Ed.

Looney Tunes Record Store Catches Fire

The very popular music store Looney Tunes caught fire last night. They are saying a faulty electrical cord was the source.

August 30, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LONGSTANDING LONG ISLAND INDEPENDENT MUSIC STORE, LOONEY TUNES FALLS TO OVERNIGHT FIRE

PLANS TO REBUILD THE STORE ARE ALREADY BEING DISCUSSED

West Babylon, NY: Looney Tunes, the longstanding, nationwide renowned independent record retailer experienced a devastating fire last night. The cause, arson investigators say, was a faulty extension cord.

The decimated 4,000 square foot record store has been the toast of not only its native Long Island, but also a national testimony to the perseverance of the independent music retailer. In an age when much of the general outlook seems bleak, Looney Tunes is 35 years standing. The family owned business, first opened by Karl Groeger in 1971, now run by his sons Karl, Jr and Jaime, has not only thrived over much of its years in business, but it has also boasted high profile in-store appearances such as Ice T, Ozzy Osbourne and Staind, whose 2001 rooftop in-store performance attracted 7,500 fans to the store.

The intention at press time is to rebuild Looney Tunes as soon as possible. Despite hundreds of thousands of dollars in merchandise and memorabilia including 57 autographed guitars and countless Gold and Platinum records destroyed, owner Karl Groeger, Jr, asks customers and fans, “Keep us in your prayers, but have faith that we will be back stronger than ever.” Groeger’s attitude, still positive in the wake of the devastating fire, is clearly an indication of what’s made Looney Tunes work over the years- moving forward, despite the circumstances or the climate.

Looney Tunes is a long time member of the Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMS), an organization that supports the best music stores in the country. CIMS President Don Van Cleave reflected, “Looney Tunes is one of music¹s premier stores. Their focus on serving the music fans of Long Island is legendary. We will miss their energy while they rebuild and look forward to the store being even better when it reopens.”

Music industry folks wishing to send donations for the rebuilding of Looney Tunes can address their offerings to Don Van Cleave at the Coalition Of Independent Music Stores; 3738 4th Terrace North, Birmingham, AL 35222. This can include a financial donation, autographed memorabilia or award plaques.

For more information about Looney Tunes, please visit www.looneytunescds.com

For more information about the Coalition Of Independent Music Stores, please visit: www.cimsmusic.com

This is sad. It hasn’t even been a year since CB’s closed. I’m guessing this is the real end of the club and there will be no NY or Vegas re-opening, unless his family sells the rights to the name. If you’re new to the IRT and have yet to read our cover feature on CB’s, all the way back in issue 5, now’s the perfect time to download the pdf by clicking the “see past issues” link in the upper right hand corner of your screen.

~Shawn Schank

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hilly Kristal, the founder of New York punk rock club CBGB, which helped make the Ramones, Blondie and Talking Heads stars, has died at age 75, his daughter said on Wednesday.

Kristal died on Tuesday from complications of lung cancer, his daughter, Lisa Kristal Burgman, said.

He founded the club in 1973 hoping to showcase country music, calling it CBGB & OMFUG, for “Country, Bluegrass, Blues and Other Music For Uplifting Gourmandizers.”

But the club drew few country acts and instead became a breeding ground for punk rock, playing host to the likes of Patti Smith, Television, Living Colour as well as countless local hopefuls that never made it to the big time.

“He loved country, but he loved music even more, and as a singer-songwriter himself, he knew rock musicians needed a place to play their own music,” his daughter said.

Marky Ramone of the Ramones said in a statement, “Hilly was an integral part of the punk scene from 1974 until his death.”

“He was always supportive of the genre,” he said. “In an era when disco was the mainstream, Hilly took a chance and gambled. The gamble paid off for both him and for us. We are all grateful to him and will miss him.”

Johnny Rzeznik of the Goo Goo Dolls, who first played CBGB in the late 1980s, said agents from recording companies often came to the club. “So many bands would have never have made records unless they came to CBGB,” he said.

Kristal was born in Manhattan but his father moved the family to Hightstown, New Jersey, soon after. He became a concert violinist by the age of 9. In the late 1950s, Kristal sang in the men’s chorus at Radio City Music Hall.

He went on to manage Manhattan jazz haunt the Village Vanguard, booking acts like trumpet player Miles Davis. He opened a bar that served sandwiches, such as the Hilly burger, that later became CBGB.

Kristal lost a battle last year to stop CBGB from being evicted. Its last shows in October featured Patti Smith and Blondie’s Debbie Harry. The club’s clothing store, CBGB Fashions, remains open a few blocks from the original club.

“He wanted the club to survive him,” his daughter said. “He is survived by the fans and bands that played there.”

Labels are folding, record shops are closing up, famous clubs are being chased off their blocks by greedy developers; but hey, at least 2007 provided us with one hell of a soundtrack to this cultural apocalypse thus far. Here is a smattering of some of the albums that rocked the socks off our staff during this first half of 2007.

WHITE STRIPES

Icky Thump (Third Man-Warner Bros.)

You would think that after making albums since 1999, The White Stripes would have, at some point down the road, made the decision to change their sound. Yet with 2007’s Icky Thump out on shelves now, it can be proven to the general public once again that the Detroit duo are unwilling to give up their edge even for a second. The opening title track is their finest Zep send-up in years—Jack White’s distorted guitar crashing and then immediately silencing itself under Jack’s unmistakable crooning gives one the sense of walking down the middle of a street in slow-motion, holding a gun. And for those who complain of Meg White’s inability to drum can shut their mouths on this one, because her simple pounding is what makes this song, and a majority of this album, the powerhouse that it is. It chugs steadily on up until Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn and St. Andrew (The Battle Is In The Air), when the band gives up their standard sound for some kind of weird celtic jig that they still, somehow, manage to pull off with a flare only the Stripes can muster. And maybe that’s their secret to pulling off Icky Thump…always having an air of weirdness to everything they do. –Nicole Wertheim

PAUL MCCARTNEY

Memory Almost Full (MPL-HEAR Music)

Yeah, that’s right Mike Conklin! We did it again! Macca continues the winning streak he began 10 years ago with 1997’s left field surprise classic Flaming Pie with his grittiest, most personal post-Fab work since Ram. Memory Almost Full deserves a spot right up there with Marvin Gaye’s Here, My Dear and Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks as one of the finest post-divorce albums in pop history. Keep churning out these gems, Paul. Keep listening to that lame new New Pornographers album, Mike. –Ed.

MODEST MOUSE

We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank (Epic)

All right, all right, all right. Gone are the days of The Lonesome Crowded West, Modest Mouse’s breakthrough and arguably best release. This can be confirmed by the nationwide “Top 40 success” of 2004’s Good News For People Who Love Bad News. Christ, when Float On hit the airwaves, let’s face it—there was not a single person, regardless of social denomination, who wasn’t telling you that “it would all float on, all right.” And yeah, those cult followers who joined the Modest Mouse Fan Club back in 1997 (the year The Lonesome Crowded West was released) spit all over frontman Issac Brock’s shoes, saying they were selling out to achieve coast-to-coast stardom (Brock indignantly replied that he had been trying to release albums that would achieve the band coast-to-coast success since Modest Mouse’s career began, which leads us to wonder if you can start selling out if you never stopped to begin with). It’s safe to say that since Good News For People Who Love Bad News was showing up at a music store near you, the crowd that had previously followed Modest Mouse changed. It got bigger. The faces and styles were different. Suddenly, listening to Modest Mouse didn’t mean that you also listened to Built to Spill. As someone who jumped on the MM Bandwagon after the release of Good News For People Who Love Bad News, I can attest that I personally have never heard a single track by Built to Spill, which I suppose means that I don’t listen to them. Good News For People Who Love Bad News was different than anything Modest Mouse had put out before. It certainly was no The Lonesome Crowded West. Modest Mouse’s follow up and latest release We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank had people hanging on the edges of their seats, waiting to see if the band would take a step forward or a step back. Generally, it seems like they’re stepping to the side in some kind of weird Electric Slide style dance. I mean, what direction are you going in when you add ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr to your line-up? No one saw that one coming. At least, I didn’t. But while we can pit new Modest Mouse fans against old and watch them argue until they suffocate, not one person can say that Modest Mouse has lost any ambition. They still record with the fire they had when they were cutting their teeth still. We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank proves this. There are new instruments, there are new members (and old members that are returning—original drummer Jeremiah Green has seemingly recovered from his 2003 mental breakdown to grace us with his snare pounds once more). Modest Mouse explodes back onto our speakers and takes no prisoners with opener March Into the Sea, and yes, that’s an accordion playing in the beginning. It’s safe to say that while the band can’t seem to keep a steady line-up or sound, one thing that will never change is Isaac Brock’s vocal-chord-shredding singing style, or his tongue-in-cheek humor. He laughs at us and says “Bang your head like a gong cuz it’s filled with all wrong!”. This is a band that is never short on fervor. Modest Mouse litters this album with slow songs and fast songs, a good balance that allows you to listen to this album regardless of the mood you’re in. The band gets sentimental on us in Little Motel, a rare relationship song not normally heard from Isaac Brock’s pen. Dashboard, the first single released off the album, showcases Johnny Marr’s ability to fit in quite nicely with the band, along with the fact that Modest Mouse sounds really good with a brass section backing them up. Brock implies that it’s all okay because “we still have the radio.” Well, thank God for that. Parting of the Sensory mixes the best of both worlds by starting off slow and simple (just Brock, an acoustic guitar, a bass drum, and some creepy distant handclapping), before exploding into drum rolls and a violin. If someone has to steal my carbon, I hope they do it to this song because at least then my death will seem really badass. The album closes out with Invisible, beginning with faded guitar chords that kind of remind you of We’ve Got Everything for some reason, but only for a couple of bars. Granted, these are only several tracks that a mediocre amateur journalist has hand-picked to write about, but that’s just because I’m pressed for space. There are few albums that can be listened to all the way through without skipping a track or at least offering up one eye roll—We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank is one of those. Modest Mouse might be different, but they’re not lacking in spunk. They should be granted credit for that, at least. –Nicole Wertheim

WILCO

Sky Blue Sky (Nonesuch)

Let’s talk about this record not by considering what it should have been, but by focusing on what it is.  I find it hard to accept the notion that Wilco can be viewed as such an essentially “experimental” or “left-field” group to the extent that their perceived lack of accountability to this standard renders an album as strong as “Sky Blue Sky” underwhelming.  One would assume that temperance is as much of a mark of sound musicianship as sheer virtuosity and it should go without saying that Tweedy’s songs are good enough to hold their own without vast sonic support columns. (The production, however, is a bit problematic; the versions of “Shake it Off” and “Walken” that appear in 

looser, more brittle form on the accompanying DVD doc are far more compelling than their relatively sterile studio counterparts).  Wilco’s art house cult would love to see this band take a nice big poo poo where it used to break bread but the band’s core has only gotten juicier after subsuming some more adventurous contributors. –Tom Whalen

DEATH PROOF

Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Maverick)

Usually when Quentin Tarantino puts out a film, the soundtrack gets just as much press. Death Proof is no exception. The soundtrack may even have made more of an impact then the film (see www.irtmag.com for my condemnation of the American public for not supporting Grind House). Full of obscure soundtrack instrumentals from other films to old soul to classic rock, The Death Proof soundtrack has it all you would expect from a classic QT soundtrack (including the occasional dialog track). It is hard to even pick a favorite track; they all mix together so well. The best thing to do is just list track list and let you gather your own opinions:

1. Last Race - Jack Nitzsche

2. Baby, It’s You - Smith

3. Paranoia Prima - Ennio Morricone

4. Planning & Scheming - Michael Bacall

5. Jeepster - T. Rex

6. Stuntman Mike - Rose McGowan, Rose McGowan, Kurt Russell, Kurt Russell

7. Staggolee - Pacific Gas & Electric

8. Love You Save (May Be Your Own) - Joe Tex

9. Good Love, Bad Love - Eddie Floyd

10. Down in Mexico - The Coasters

11. Hold Tight - Beaky, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich

12. Sally and Jack [From Blow Out] - Pino Donaggio

13. It’s So Easy - Willy DeVille

14. Whatever-However - Zoe Bell, Tracie Thoms

15. Riot in Thunder Alley - Eddie Beram

16. Chick Habit - An April March

It takes a certain vision to know to put these songs together. The music may be old, but it is still sure to be one of the best albums released all year. –Brad Filicky

FIELD MUSIC

Tones of Town (Memphis Industries)

“In an era of modern rock where it is believed that true genius hides behind a hedgerow of static and feedback, the crisp complexity of Field Music’s impeccable pop gem here is as refreshing as the first time you heard Thurston Moore spike his guitar head through an amp.” –Ron Hart, Billboard.com

JESU

Conqueror (Hydrahead)

Godflesh gone shoe-gazer?! The thought of having Mr. Broadrick front My Bloody Valentine may look a bit awkward on paper, but sure as hell not in your stereo! Jesu have perfectly blended the “wall of sound” so prominent in the shoe-gazer genre with the doomy industrial tingled sludge that Godlfesh is renowned for. On the album opener/title track, the first words out of Broadrick’s mouth are “all the colors that we saw they touched us”. Colorful and touching are two words that can sum up the album as a whole. A deeper landscape is painted with each passing song, flowing together in such a way that if you were to skip a track, it would be like missing an episode of your favorite HBO series. Arguably, Jesu has easily surpassed Godflesh’s latter work both sonically and creatively. -Mark Traverson

GRINDERMAN

Grinderman (Anti-)

Nick Cave follows his triumphant release of the two finest records of his nearly flawless career, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ The Lyre of Orpheus and Abattoir Blues, with his new project, Grinderman, comprised of three of the Bad Seeds: violinist Warren Ellis (recently heard collaborating with Cave on the score to the Cave penned Australian western, The Proposition), bassist Martyn Casey, and percussionist Jim Sclavunos. Grinderman’s self-titled debut may be less dynamic in scope than the Bad Seeds’ recent efforts but delivers heftily on a primal level. Trading in his traditional piano for an electric guitar, Cave steers the band between aggressive rockers, propelled by Casey’s pulsating bass lines and Ellis’ unsettling violin loops, to softer tunes built around sparse, repetitive themes. The jauntier numbers are sonically similar to the Stooges’ Fun House (Cave’s bluesy, howling guitar solos immediately conjure up Ron Asheton’s name) and Crime, San Francisco’s criminally ignored 1970’s punk rock outfit. Indeed, Grinderman’s sensibilities are more in tune with bluesy classic rock and nascent punk rock than any other genres. The album breaks little new ground; it reminds rather than explores, but this ultimately serves as one of its attributes. Those anticipating a more angular and anarchic sound akin to Cave’s seminal early eighties project, The Birthday Party, will be disappointed by the orderliness of this record. I must confess to feeling slight disappointment as well, although mine arises not from the structured songwriting, but from the lack of more menacing tunes such as the band’s first single, “No Pussy Blues”, showcasing Cave at his most playful and threatening, often simultaneously. Widely available for months, the single hinted at a monstrously seedy record catered to our baser impulses. While the record doesn’t quite live up to that perception, it remains an achievement and a worthy addition to the Cave catalog. -Frank McGar

NINE INCH NAILS

Year Zero (Nothing-Interscope)

I said it in my review of the last Nine Inch Nails album that Trent Reznor doesn’t need to make new NIN music. He could tour now and then and spend the rest of the time doing film soundtracks and producing other artists. If he is making new NIN music, it is because he has something to say. Despite what Vice magazine may think, Year Zero is both a gripping concept album and a return to the noisier roots of Reznor’s music. The concept behind the album is a reaction to both the vapid nature of modern consumerist culture and a direct reaction to the missteps of the Bush administration. The best way to explore that is to check out all the guerilla marketing techniques that I blogged about on IRT’s site (that’s www.irtmag.com, folks –Ed.) The most striking musical aspect of the album is the hip-hop influence. Most of Year Zero sounds like the Bomb Squad jamming with Ministry blazed by the greenest green. There’s no MCing of course but a lot of the production on this record comes straight from the South Bronx, or at least the influence of Reznor’s new pal El-P. That’s a good thing. Sure, Reznor has mellowed out over the years but his musical ear is still sharp as ever and once again hip hop proves how adaptable and applicable to pop culture at large. – Brad Filicky

BATTLES

Mirrored (Warp)

It seems sensible to presume that progressive electronic music necessarily undergoes a diminution in “soul” and/or “danceability” as its constituent musical moments grow increasingly focused on technical proficiency. In other words, molesting a snare drum and setting a fret board on fire do not go hand in hand with bumping hips and nodding heads. If anyone bothered to explain this to the dudes in Battles, rest assured they were not listening. For a record like Mirrored, the group’s first full length, the terms “math” and “prog” barely suffice; this puppy flashes a kaleidoscopic marriage of crimson chops, precious beats, and dense melodic texture that borders on the indescribable. The sheer virtuosic musicianship on display, though astounding, never bullies the hooks from the foreground nor detracts from the rhythmic pulse that is relentless throughout. Bulging with sweat and muscle, the resulting sound is evidently the product of four flesh and blood beings but it is a music that is rendered all the more captivating when considering how inhuman and how impossible it often sounds. Daft Punk, eat your heart back in.-Thom Whalen

LOVE OF DIAGRAMS

Mosaic (Matador)

This Australian trio exudes the dark exuberance of real post-punk (not the discofied stuff perpetrated by more popular groups), thanks to Antonia Sellbach’s throbbing bass and yelping vocals, Monika Fikerle’s cascading drum rolls, and Luke Horton’s coruscating guitars (and occasional duo vocals). It sounds dangerous, not nostalgic, and if you’ve been wishing that, say, the Bush Tetras had released more music, or think Killing Joke’s first album was their best, this album will fill that void in your life. –Steve Holtje

NEIL YOUNG Live at Massey Hall (Reprise)

Though this release technically should be referred to the “reissue” department, Neil’s poignant 1971 solo show at Massey Hall in his Canadian homeland, after years on the bootleg circuit, finally sees its official release as part of Reprise’s massive Neil Young Archive series, the motherload of which, that crazy nine-disc box set we’ve been hearing about all these years, should see the light of day sooner than later. This is a classic solo Young performance, loaded with beautiful performances of some of his greatest songs, including the debut of “Old Man” from Harvest, replete with stage banter where Neil talks about the origin of his signature acoustic staple. And when he sings the refrain “Well, I’m going back to Canada…” on “Journey Through The Past”, eruptions of applause ring out through Massey Hall like a people who really love their country. If only America were so lucky. –Ed.

BLACK MOTH SUPER RAINBOW

Dandelion Gum (Graveface)

“Candy” seems to be the operative word here, though, after a month of straight chewing, my teeth are no worse for the wear.  Dandelion Gum appears as a product of three years of woodland isolation and drug-drizzled sonic sun spotting from a band that defiantly attests to the sheer inadequacy of “RIYL” reference-pointing.  My best attempt at a relevant rock equation (“If  Boards of Canada cashed their submarine in for a garage-rock ice-cream truck”) is clumsy at best. This isn’t another “new weird US” derivative eclectic, either; Dandelion Gum is incredibly cohesive without being the least bit overwrought, the beautiful residue of honest, striking music focusing itself, finding its own essence and spreading that stuff thick and sweet. –Tom Whalen

BILL CALLAHAN

Woke On A Whaleheart (Drag City)

Though he’s more known these days for being Mr. Joanna Newsom by the indie rock stalkerazzi than his own accomplishments as one of the finest underground singer-songwriters of the last 20 years, Mr. Callahan has risen above the (Smog) of his dark past by getting together with producer Neil Michael Hagerty and releasing a beautiful collection of robust, romantic black country rock that stands tall as his best singular piece of work since Knock Knock. You would be a fool not to appreciate this “Whale” of an album. –Patch Atomz

FROG EYES

Tears of the Valedictorian (Absolutely Kosher)

With every subsequent release, Carey Mercer and co. have been flexing their muscles in ways that contortionists grow envious of. The follow-up to 2004’s The Folded Palm and last year’s EP Future Is Inter-Disciplinary or Not at All, Frog Eyes’ latest effort finds a steady, and occasionally breathtaking, middle-ground between the two. The fractured, beaten intensity of The Folded Palm is coupled masterfully with Future’s deliberate pacing and breadth of sonic texture. Mercer howls and squawks with a blind passion over epics “Bushels” and “Caravan Breakers”, which put every moment of their extended track lengths to use. Opener “Idle Songs” bursts out of the gates in a frenzy and slowly comes to a soft crawl, peppered by the bands continued mastery of their instrumentation (all of which allows them to make the lulls as engaging as the blitzkriegs). The band is reunited with Spencer Krug of Wolf Parade on keys, and his contributions to the album’s sound can only be seen as a plus. Tears of the Valedictorian” works on every level and is as disturbing as it is enlightening. Mercer sings: “I was a singer and I sang in your home,” and, like a vampire, once you give him permission he’ll be back. –Greg Canino

KRISTIN HERSH

Learn to Sing Like a Star (Yep Roc)

More like “return to sing like she used to.” Instead of the clear, pure singing of her other solo efforts, Hersh revives her wailing ways of the first few Throwing Muses releases, letting the quaver and yelp back into her voice as uninhibitedly as on the 2001 Muses reunion. Her first officially released studio album under her own name since 2003 is self-produced, and she plays all the instruments except drums (supplied by Throwing Muses’ David Narcizo), violin and cello. As expected from her, the lyrics are dark and troubled. This is her best work since her solo debut in ‘94, maybe even her best in 20 years. Early buyers got a three-song bonus EP, +, with three non-album songs including the traditional folk song “Poor Wayfaring Stranger”. –Steve Holtje

MONEY MARK

Brand New By Tomorrow (Brushfire)

Though trying to get an interview with this man was akin to trying to land a money shot of Paris Hilton lickin’ labia in jail for In Touch, the Money man’s fourth solo album is by far his most sublime to date. Yes, he may have abandoned the ramshackle insect funk of his outstanding 1995 solo debut Mark’s Keyboard Repair. But in its place is the beautiful pop harmonies he originally blessed us with on 1997’s Push The Button, only with more of a compelling flair for creating the exact kind of album we have expected from Weezer since Pinkerton. –Eli Whitney

METHENY/MEHLDAU QUARTET

Metheny/Mehldau Quartet (Nonesuch)

Two modern day masters of their instruments come together to release some of their best music yet as the Metheny/Mehldau Quartet. Anyone who considers Pat Metheny to be a smooth jazz softie is a complete fool, especially after one catches the six-string beatdown he has delivered on such classic albums as Offramp and Song X, his experimental-as-fuck collaboration with the one and only Ornette Coleman. And Mehldau has since found a partner he can really drop science with in Pat, proving this piano prodigy is so much more than alt-rock’s go-to piano bar cover act. Metheny Mehldau Quartet is as good as anything both of these gentlemen have put out in their respective careers, and here’s hoping there is more to come from this dynamic duo. –Chester A. Arthur

PAGE MCCONNELL

Page McConnell (Legacy)

Why is Page McConnell laughing on the cover of his eponymous solo debut? It’s because he knows he has made a better solo album than all three of his bandmates could ever hope to achieve. Listening to this album, it is clear who the strongest songwriter of Phish was, as songs like “Heavy Rotation” and “Complex Wind” overshadows anything any of these guys have done since The Story of the Ghost. If only Trey’s records could be this satisfying… -The Cosby Kid

REDMAN

Red Gone Wild (Def Jam)

I’m feeling this. I’m glad REDMAN is back. I was a little sad that he is retiring Johnny “Guitar” Watson’s character, the Superman Lova. Redman has been through the mill and still comes out banging. You can tell he’s a grizzled veteran surviving the wilderness of all contemporary Hip Flop with his wits, talent and character! The album is very entertaining, even though it may not be as legendary as his first three. –Elfin Delmundo

BOOK OF KNOTS

Traineater (Anti-)

This album is a gawd damn monsta! Cobbled together by a rogue squadron of pre-gentrification NYC rock and jazz luminaries, including Tony Maimone of Pere Ubu fame, producer Joel Hamilton, Carla Kihlstedt of Tin Hat Trio and Matthias Bossi of Skeleton Key and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, this megagroup marks its debut on Epitaph’s Anti- imprint with a ferocious collection of heavy, heavy art rock inspired by the beautiful decay lining the rust-belt of Old, Weird America. Tom Waits, Mike Watt and Jon Langford come along for the ride as well, helping Book of Knots to create an album that literally pummels the majority of horrible loudness your local college metal station is spinning these days. I’ll eat my train with a side of Shadows Fall’s blood, thank you. –Grover Cleveland

!!!

Myth Takes (Warp)

Brooklyn’s !!! make songs that are as much a set of lame ducks as they’ve ever been and we couldn’t be more happy about it. The night club romanticism and soft-biting politics of “Myth Takes” is the same plate the band has always offered up to the table, but it’s never sounded this full of quality eating. It’s a hooky bastard, with songs just as likely to get trapped inside your head as in your feet. Vocalist Nic Offer explores the range of his register in songs like “A New Name” and “Sweet Life”, giving vocal warbling a go in place of the traditional low-end mumbling. “Heart of Hearts” is a perfect dance track, full of flow and noise. And the single utterance of a dial-tone “fuck” in “Must Be The Moon” saddens any college radio deejay wanting to send its slick package over the airwaves. A marked development over 2004’s “Louden Up Now”, “Myth Takes” catapults the band to flashier playgrounds without dropping their hold over the tight, chest-thumping bass grooves. !!! transcend the trappings of being seen as a danceable rock band, meaning they’re simply a dance factory and “Myth Takes” dares you to disagree. –Greg Canino

THE ROSEBUDS

Night Of The Furies (Merge)

Nothing says love like some old school 120 Minutes-style romantic new wave, and The Rosebuds delivers the goods like it was 1986 all over again on Night of the Furies. Why pop music like this cannot be fully represented on network TV or in Hollywood continues to astound me. I would totally watch any Drew Barrymore or Jennifer Garner chick flick my girlfriend picks out without any reservation if there were more songs like “Cemetery Lawns” and “Hold on to This Coat” being utilized as music beds as opposed to fucking Sixpence None The Richer. Here’s hoping if the Smiths ever stop being bitches to each other and reunite already, they will take The Rosebuds on the road with them as their opening act. How cool would that be? –Peter Peters

IT IS WITH MUCH SADNESS THAT IRT REPORTS THE DEATH OF JAZZ LEGEND ANDREW HILL, PERHAPS THE GREATEST PIANO PLAYER TO EVER RECORD FOR BLUE NOTE RECORDS, WHO LOST HIS LONG, VALIANT BATTLE WITH LUNG CANCER AT THE AGE OF 75 THIS PAST FRIDAY (APRIL 20, 2007) IN HIS JERSEY CITY HOME. THE HOME WHERE IRT SENIOR EDITOR SHAWN SCHEPS WAS FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO SIT AND ENJOY WHAT IS NOW HIS FINAL MAGAZINE INTERVIEW, WHICH CAN BE READ UNCUT AND IN ITS ENTIRETY JUST BELOW THIS MESSAGE. OUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS GO OUT TO HIS FAMILY UPON OUR HEARING OF THIS TRAGIC NEWS, AND OUR STAUNCH APPRECIATION TO MR. SCHEPS FOR TURNING IN SUCH AN AMAZING INTERVIEW WITH THIS WONDERFUL HUMAN BEING. -Ed.

Andrew Hill: The IRT Interview
By: Shawn Scheps

Here at the IRT we’re dedicated to bringing our readers articles on music that we feel is authentic. With that said, music doesn’t come any more real than that of Andrew Hill’s. Not many musicians can claim to have not ever compromised themselves in order to please someone other than their listeners or themselves. However, Andrew Hill can rest assured that he has never compromised his artistic integrity for the man or the money. Hill, who was called “the last great protégé” by Blue Note Records co-founder Alfred Lion, has spent his career staying true to himself, not to the passing trends and gimmicks of the past six decades of music. For instance, while many of his contemporaries sold their souls to fusion in the ’70s, Hill steered his ship clear. And when the ’80s ushered in the era of cheesy commercial jazz, you would not hear Hill’s music by tuning the dial to CD 101.9.

For those unfamiliar, the legendary pianist and composer’s was born on June 30, 1937 and raised in the South Side of Chicago. He got his professional start gigging in Chicago back in ‘52 and by summer ‘53 was accompanying Charlie Parker at the Greystone Ballroom in Detroit. He also rehearsed with Miles Davis during these early years and recorded his debut, “So in Love,” with a trio that featured ….. in ‘55. He moved to NY in ‘61 and performed with Rahsaan Roland Kirk before his own recording career took solid root after being introduced to Alfred Lion by Joe Henderson. Subsequently he was signed to the label for the first of three times in ‘63 where he spent the better part of the decade composing and recording some of the era’s most original and forward thinking music with many of post-bop’s luminaries including - Eric Dolphy, Roy Haynes, Richard Davis, John Gilmore, Woody Shaw, Tony Williams, Freddie Hubbard, Elvin Jones, Bobby Hutcherson, Charles Tolliver and Lee Morgan.

Although his profile, along with that of jazz in general, waned with the advent of fusion, Hill never stopped composing, recording and forging forward with his music. He spent most of the ’70s and ’80s on the West Coast presenting solo concerts, classes and workshops in prison as well as teaching music at Portland State University as well as gigging as a public high school teacher and occasionally performing at international jazz festivals. Throughout these years Hill released music on Steeplechase, East Wind, Artists House and Soul Note labels before returning to Blue Note in ‘89 for two albums. Although these albums helped to increase his visibility in the jazz world, it was his album “Dusk,” released by Palmetto in ‘00, that really brought him back into the limelight, garnering all-around praise as well as numerous awards. They say the third time is a charm and with Hill back on Blue Note his most recent release, “Timelines,” proves this. It’s a masterpiece and testament to the fact that his vision is as intact, alive and advanced as ever. He was awarded the Playboy Jazz Artist of the Year

IRT: When you came to NYC in the early 60’s I believe the first album you were on was a Joe Henderson album, right?

AH: I think the first album was Walt Dickerson, “To My Queen,” and then… no, actually the first one was Roland Kirk’s “Domino.” I was working with him and we did it right after Newport and the second one was the Walt Dickerson, “To My Queen.”

IRT: So then the Joe Henderson album the first Blue Note session you were on?

AH: No, I think the first Blue Note session was…Hank Mobley. Wait, no, Joe Henderson was my first Blue Note session.

IRT: That must have been amazing to have just been around in that scene during that time…

AH: Well that was a different time, and you know, it’s amazing how much society has changed. Musicians played for the love of the music and you know, you’d do like four or five sessions a day. And most of the time people were playing with so many different bands that they were rewarding and refreshing and each one had a different approach, it hadn’t polarized itself to the point where it was just one sound, you know where it says “Coltrane sound.” Even though before that there was the Charlie Parker sound, but then it had eased up where other individuals were possible. So it was a good time because people were playing different ways instead of variations on one way.

IRT: And the cross-pollination of ideas must have been inspiring.

AH: It was inspiring, it was. You know like as people become more, allegedly sophisticated, things begin to seem to be different. You know people say like, “oh they were in an inspired town,” but it wasn’t really so much about inspiration than being prepared to be able to explore. Like the space engineers before their jobs disappeared; in the mid 60s almost two-thirds of the places where the musicians used to perform disappeared. So there was no room for that type of attitude after a certain point. Because in NY you always have had like let’s say, the Village Vanguard, but with the Village Vanguard back then you had places like, Wells and Sugar Ray Robinson’s. Places in Harlem that, you know, you had fried chicken and pancakes and chicken and waffles. But they had jazz then and that’s one thing where it’s sad, that old, you know either there’s white jazz or there’s black jazz and for white jazz the black jazz wasn’t in script because these places were owned by pimps and dope dealers and there was this whole part of society being phased out; but you had these places all across the country, like in New York you could run to Rochester to Jon Hendricks’s place, he had a jazz club. You had all these places that just disappeared so with that disappearing it reshaped the jazz situation and the people who later paid for are the shape of the music itself.

IRT: And this is probably around the time when a lot of your contemporaries began embracing technology and incorporating electronic elements into the music with the whole fusion movement.

AH: Well, fusion yea, yea. The only thing that kept me away from fusion, I said, “if you hit, you know the world is yours for a moment, you know all this is opened, money, work.” But if you don’t hit you compromised for nothing and threw away your artistic seniority for nothing. But they were beginning to incorporate electronics into the music but that was after all these other places got lost because we were talking about the two places, and you know because the Village Vanguard is still there but Sugar Ray’s and Wells and all those other places across the country aren’t there anymore. You know, so who supported it was, then rock-jazz came and then the music almost disappeared because then you have a little more intellectual contingency, like AEC (Art Ensemble of Chicago). But these things, rules, like as middle-class intellectual institution work, before it was built upon a traditional situation that has evolved for 250 years, just evolved into the community where it was a popular music and then in the latter 60’s it made the transition from popular music to an art form. So that’s always the sign of death or something that’s gone to sleep for a while. Now the music seems to be coming back again.

IRT: I think it’s cool that you stayed true to the roots of the music and kept the acoustic thing going throughout the 70s and continued to take it in innovative directions. Did you ever have the urge to take a more commercial route?

AH: Well, you know you think about it because no matter what one says, you’re conscious of money and the things that money will buy. But then, after money anyway it don’t matter cause here you’re about to take a gamble on your life in an area that you basically know nothing about. So they always sound, it’s not always they can contrive me and say, well you know, “here I am playing fusion,” which went to another formula for putting a fusion band back then together, or you know a so called energy band. Even though it was like a phenomenon to have all these un-schooled musicians getting paid a fortune, there was nothing to build on. So you take that energy and try and build on something without no motion, or just a static noise or a roll, which is hip but it was less…and for a lot of people it turned out to be their last musical statement. They played fusion and the next thing you know there was nothing to come back to. It wasn’t like three or four years ago where you can make a spectacular mistake and come back and play something beautiful and get accepted by other people; because a lot people were leaving the music cause they refused to accept the music the way the journalists were representing to them what the new thing was. To the journalists it was anything that could have some type of hope to it; but you know, it’s good for journalism but that doesn’t mean it’s good for the ears.

IRT: So what’s your opinion on the future of jazz music?

AH: Well, you look at it right now and it’s doing pretty good…you don’t have too many big record companies anymore. So on one hand one can say that’s terrible but on the other hand one can say well, that it’s good to an extent it’s shaping the music according to them and the only way it can survive is to be supported by the people. And then in New York or all these other cities you have your bigger jazz clubs and your smaller jazz clubs for young artists that are developing. And then with the digitized music and music streaming, you know like people who never heard your music can get Yahoo.com for like five dollars and listen to things they wouldn’t have listened to; you know like Charlie Mingus, or anyone, and just listen and give themselves a music appreciation lesson and become familiar. Before things, albums, were more expensive and there is so much hype and you have to get through the hype to get to who was playing. And now all these things have been eased, the only problem I see creeping its head up is these corporations, you know like the MacArthur Foundation. Now they don’t want to give a genius award to anyone over 40 (laughing) and all this stuff….but actually that’s really terrible because for the first time in a long time the young can pull from the older artists and play for the people and can get this synergy, that they used to have with the people and move the music forward. And then you have these other companies that kind of involved with music by, artificial means I call it, you know, getting this “money”…but you know I think the music is good…sometimes I think that the future of the music is great. And then when one young person comes out that can really play, like Charlie Parker and his music among my school contemporaries, then that’ll move the music along. So that’s all it needs is one who can really play, you know. Some are more looking for the connection between rap and jazz but I don’t think it’s the connection I think the connection is just a young person that’s really playing.

IRT: That’s going to push it forward…

AH: Well that’s it…

IRT: So who’s that, have you met them?

AH: (laughter) I can tell all the potential and they’re getting better and everything again you get down to it and their only form of survival is the people.

IRT: Do you still listen to a lot of new music?

AH: I listen to it only because, if it’s in the way it was presented to me as the my music of my youth was, improvisation, or you know now many people say “this moment was documented” and the greatness and stuff which was really intended to just be a passing phrase and then, talking about technology, you can preserve that moment even though that moment is over and can’t come again. I used to talk to Gene Ammons about that, you know, why he would be repetitive in his solos on the record. Then you go to that era, where all of a sudden at some point the highlight of that song is that he’s gonna play the same solo that he played on the record. So you know it’s not just improvised music I’m playing now, I’m playing popular music because once people get that record I keep saying there’s just something there they don’t just listen to it once; they listen to it over again so they hear things they haven’t heard and things they have heard, that’s part of that process. They can sing you the most abstract of solos note for note. But I always say that the involved audience is coming back, people are listening to music and you know, in any hard times what happened is people would become more involved with the arts again. It’s good to shake your booty but people seem to be demanding a little more than that, you know, society as a whole.

IRT: So would you say music for you is very of the moment? Like on your latest album, “Timelines,” were are all the pieces recently composed?

AH: Yea, they’re all fairly recent because you know some people like to create their library and re-record. I can see the chance in which in it I would say, I’ll record and do this, do this or do that, but I can’t do it that way. Because in what happens is, to save and preserve a moment that never was, you seem to lose something. So it’s better for me, you know you can’t write music for musicians specifically, but to have it kind of current where you can connect into something now, instead of reaching for a past period that one wasn’t able to participate in, but you still have this as a memory for that day back then.

IRT: So do you have a lot of music that you’ve written over the years that you never recorded that you probably won’t?

AH: Well, almost everything that…I’ve been writing things for string quartets and other things and a lot of it has gone un-recorded and a lot of it has disappeared…at least I’ve been lucky enough as to compose it and get a lot of things done and be able to hear it myself. It’s important in itself compositionally.

IRT: So how long have you been living in Jersey City?

AH: Since ‘96.

IRT: And before that you were in NYC?

AH: No before that I was in Portland, Oregon.

IRT: Okay, so when you moved back east you moved here?

AH: Yea, we moved here. First we moved to Dixon Mills, you know where?

IRT: Where is that?

AH: You know right up the street it used to be where they made the number two…

IRT: Oh the pencil factory.

AH: Yea the pencil factory where they have these unusual apartments.

IRT: So how do you like it around here?

AH: Well I like it because here you’re literally a stones throw away from New York, but you can come here and get away from some of the madness of New York. It has its moments of everything, you know where it becomes so quiet you become your worst fear; because you have all of these terrible things in your imagination that come from living right next to New York but you know, I like it. You can be yourself, you don’t have to have a 24/7 act going, you can kind of just relax into where you are. It’s a nice place to live.

IRT: Yea, I’ve been here for about two years, it’s nice that it’s been somewhat undiscovered by the yuppies and hipsters and you can still find an affordable place to live.

AH: Well when we came in it turned out, we got the place for $300,000 to $400,000 and you know now the price is $900,000 and going up. So now a lot of people are re-discovering it, especially this neighborhood. You know but that’s just the way of the world on one level. After they build all of these luxury condos and such, but why are people going to live there. They got places for them to live, now each one almost has to make a million dollars to afford it, you know. (Laughter)

IRT: It blows my mind…

AH: Oh that blows my mind there too.

IRT: And what the fallout of it is going to be.

AH: Well there has to be a real estate crash, it’s too ridiculous.

IRT: And where are all these people coming from

AH: (Laughter) I mean and where are they going to work at!

IRT: There has got to be some recession or depression in this country’s future, the way things are going.

AH: Oh I’ve been predicting a lot of terrible things for a long time but it don’t happen, it just keeps on going.

IRT: How do you feel on the condition of our country on a whole right now?

AH: Oh my god, did you see that special on the ice age on Saturday. Well I look it as the ice age; they say if we stop doing everything now it’s too late.

IRT: You mean with the whole global warming or in general?

AH: Yea, everything. We don’t have to do anything, we will have exterminated ourselves.

IRT: Even just talking in terms of global warming, I drove up to VT this past weekend to get away…

AH: And you didn’t see that much snow.

IRT: No snow.

AH: No snow!

IRT: Not even in the mountains

AH: Not even! Well every aspect is the same way you know, what should be done. But it’s so late now like they say if we stop we still can’t cancel out 50,000 years of going back…no snow and the hurricanes and storms will be worse. I mean everything else is the same way, it’s terrible…you know some bad decisions that have taken over…You know so that’s why artists come up important globally and internationally because if the world can open itself back up to the artist’s way and not behave materialistic then that may give the world a few good moments before…and then they might find a way of salvaging what can be salvaged. Because with the glaciers disappearing that means a lot of the land masses are going to disappear.

IRT: Right, oceans are all going to rise.

AH: Yea, and in a seaport town like New Orleans, you know they’re basically gone. Like I said, I don’t know what to say. You know it’s terrible cause I can say “What do we do now?” It can’t be salvaged.

IRT: I think that’s the way a lot of people see it, I’m just surprised more people aren’t standing up and…

AH: Oh well they’re standing up, you know because they’re saying, “Oh our children. Look at the legacy for our children.” The children have no legacy but death. Unless they find another planet and if there is another planet whose going to want us there. You know so that’s why the arts become important because maybe through a certain frame of mind other things become possible.

IRT: Exactly, because I don’t see it going in that other direction now.

AH: Uh ah, me neither. You look at it and the path is scary because it’s all up and down and there you have this whole batch of ignorant people, endorsing. What can you do?

IRT: And then there is no accountability. These people want to act as if no mistakes were made on their part.

AH: Oh, Oh, Oh, there are no mistakes made, they just…

IRT: Incompetent…

AH: Well, they’re competent, they’re destroying the United States making it a potential third world country.

IRT: The way I see it is this country has had its rise to greatness and now…

AH: Oh, they took the jobs away, so once you put the jobs elsewhere, everyone wants the Indian market, the Chinese market wherever, you know forget this poor people in the states. Demographically they are important, as consumers.

IRT: Right, and then there is the message we’re showing the rest of the world.

AH: Well that’s why I think with artists, because sometimes the arts, if they get strong enough, can be strong enough to alter the civilization to a certain extent. That’s why I believe it’s getting strong because there has to be another side of us besides the animal side that saves us.

IRT: It seems like the 60s was the pinnacle of that.

AH: Oh that was the end, really the 50s and 60s. Like everyone says, the 50s in jazz was like the intellectual-Jewish formal-evening period and then it started going down in the 60s, it became the black-nationalist period. But musically it went to, as you call it, you know like music so loud you couldn’t hear, you know tone deaf. So then crowds just accepted music a lot instead of following the traditional evolution. So that’s what stopped the music back then. Then everything started becoming more materialistic. You know people getting more money so they could dress up, go out, shake their ass, and leave their government in someone else’s hands because they have their disposable income and they can get all these toys. Things to keep them…earning more money and that becoming culture. When before, someone would say, “well culture is a little bit by going to college,” but not anymore. You can be stupid as ever as long as you have a good memory and can apply what you can for the good of the corporation.

IRT: Some of the dumbest people I know are ones with higher level degrees.

AH: (laughter) Oh, I know! That’s amazing. I look at them and I want to say, “well you don’t know everything!” There is so much knowledge and you need to put it all together.

IRT: Right, having an open enough mind to expose your self to stuff…

AH: Right, exposing yourself and bringing up new things. Well, we’ll see, or those who will shall see. It’ll be alright, because in some kind of way the arts always have a way of maintaining or saving humanity.

IRT: What would you say some of your most memorable sessions or gigs going back to the 50s and 60s were?

AH: Well they all were good from that period. It’s not that anecdotal…one could remember like the music being good to having a great time playing the music. But like I said it was a different time; it was a time of more being, more so than reflecting…it represented a perpetual good time for a brief moment.

IRT: Were you ever conscious of the legacy you were leaving behind at the time?

AH: No one was in it for the legacy, we were more in it for the moment than the legacy.

IRT: Looking back at your music do you have a favorite album that you did?

AH: I like them all even though some have been naturally accepted by society more than others, you know. But I like them all because they were all done with a certain type of sincerity. That’s why for me when it would get to the point where I would just be a step away from becoming a studio musician I would step away, because as I’d say “look, just cut to the point that all I really enjoy is making the money.” You know a little bit when it’s available. But then I just gave a good part of myself away for nothing.

IRT: And you never stopped playing music at all, even during those years that you weren’t releasing recordings?

AH: Oh no, and because this almost connects to the same sentence, all of a sudden it becomes so much about money. You know, you don’t play unless you got gigs, you don’t practice unless you have something to practice to at that gig. So all of a sudden you get to this point where you may have this natural talent for playing music, but the feeling has left. The feeling kind of joins Washington and Ben Franklin, you know, and I always look at it that it would be a shame to lose that. Because then you literally have nothing.

IRT: And then you see all these musicians playing on autopilot.

AH: Well, that’s good, I don’t like to tell people how to live or what they should enjoy but for me compromising, if it was compromising for nothing, why compromise. It’s indicative of someone saying, “I’ll give you the world,” and give you the world and then even though you have given a major part of yourself away you do have, something/nothing, but you do have something tangible that you sold out for. I mean but just to sell yourself out for nothing and you know $50,000 or $40,0000; you understand if you’re not producing that regularly you have nothing because all of that is going to go away anyway. And if you gave yourself away you have nothing.

IRT: In the press release I got from Blue Note there was a quote where you were talking about artists pushing the boundaries for their audiences and not for themselves, can you elaborate on this?

AH: Oh, they’re so obsessed with something new and like I was telling someone, you may have come up with something entirely new but if it has nothing to do with people, just the obsession to be different, then you’re not participatory anyway. I mean cause you know, you have a product or you’re trying to sell yourself as a genius. In other words, everyone has this genius phobia, where they want their work to be different, but their work has nothing to do with people. You know there are societies here, you know visions, where everyone can scratch each others back but then when you look at it being destructive and all and degenerate; you know but music is supposed to fit into society, not because to be an outcast. You know, and that’s not why people do things, you do things no matter if you like the way the government is going, but still do things in a competitive manner to try to appease the people. Because that’s all it’s about in society and society itself has a different way of easing the pressure of society itself on the people.

IRT: What artists come to mind when you think about people that are doing that nowadays?

AH: Well nowadays people are getting back to, but not to the point when I was a kid; I would go and hear Louis Armstrong and I didn’t enjoy it that much. But to the people who liked it, something important had happened. You know they left with something fulfilled and recently, that’s why this group has attracted me because it seems to have that potential where we can go out and please the people.

IRT: And you have shows coming up next week?

AH: Yea, March 1st through the 4th at Birdland.

IRT: You excited about that?

AH: Oh yea, any opportunity to perform. That’s why I feel that it’s important to keep myself. You know not keep myself to the point where a performance was nothing more than a gig. Try to make it something special and build from that point on. You know something for the people besides take their money. (laughter)

IRT: So you found out you were sick a couple of years ago?

AH: Oh yea, in Portugal, all a sudden I thought it was a heart attack. Fortunately for me we were coming back to the states the next day. To me the worst thing in the world one can do is to get sick and stay over there, if you have the chance to come back here and try get to the root of the problem. So the problem, I had a heart attack, and then you go through a series of tests and I found out that I have cancer. So I just have to deal with it and give myself…you know right now, the cancer in my lung is terminal, but it don’t have to be; it’s just a disease where if you have the money, you can keep yourself going indefinitely.

IRT: So it’s definitely terminal what you have?

AH: Oh, well lung cancer… well everything is terminal. It’s a terminal life. So approaching it like that, that’s why I make each performance so good because there are still unanswered questions to be addressed that one really wouldn’t even consider if everything was allegedly normal. So that brings up the question of what is music really supposed to be? Is it supposed to be something that brings one notoriety or is it supposed to be something where one relieves the people?

IRT: Something that you just put out there…

AH: For people, rather than one image that one is trying to create of ones self which is unimportant the next day, because all of us in society we’re just part of something that’s come before us and that will go on after us. So we just take our little stick, like a relay race, and take it to next point and then someone will take it from there.

IRT: Would you say you feel a sense of urgency to put out as much as you can?

AH: Well no, but just to utilize time more effectively. Because you can put a lot of stuff out and it’s just junk. You know try to have a product where it has what it’s supposed to have, like feelings and such and such something. Like you said earlier, where people can pick up a record a month from now and still have the desire to pick it up… something lasting.

IRT: Well I have to say that your whole catalog of music is something I feel will be lasting for a long time from now.

AH: Oh bless your heart. It has… withstood the test of time. You know being a call back at this point, you know, look how lucky I am. I was just lucky enough to get the Playboy award and so many different awards and such…

IRT: Any unreleased gems like “Passing Ships,” that had never got released, that we can look forward to?

AH: Well they rediscovered “From California with Love,” that was, John Sinclair, when he had his Artist’s House. So he released part of it…but two or three discs that he has that have never been issued that they have… they are getting ready to put out. (Scheduled to be released 10/06 on Mosaic Records as Mosaic Select 23) But it’s not that much, there was a company called Test of Time records… they make me sorry I didn’t do more in a commercial way because now they’re looking under a rock for things that were done and there aren’t too many because I protected myself too well. Now for some reason it looks like almost anything out there, if there was, would be good. There would be a market for. But it’s not that much, all that’s been covered.

IRT: So besides jazz, what non-jazz music has influenced you?

AH: Oh so much. I grew up in the times of the movies, where you had the big movie productions, where almost all the classical composers were writing for the movies. Jazz was important, it was the music of my youth, I grew up and it was the popular music. In a regular situation you can hear various artists, Lester Young, all of them coming out of these various apartments, but then there were places to jam. So that got more attention, but then the shifting harmonies and stuff, but you had the movies too and had all these dynamic harmonic scorers. There was so much music in there and then as one becomes more sophisticated even in their selection, they become a recordphile…then you learn about Bartok and different things. So you have all of these influences then when you get to a certain age you just follow them according to their form, you know but there are so many…you’re not just contained oneself to a small music called jazz. You know it’s big, but it’s still small because for a reason, I used to try to fit things into different areas but then I tried to deconstruct this image of myself as this renasonce man…just for well I intended to get before the people as one gets older, at least me, I’m quick to say, this is hype. This is hype and this is hype. But then what I don’t say, is when I was coming through the reigns and stuff is how I was part of the hype. (laughter) You know so I like the separation and not realizing where I am, you know even my thoughts about doing the string quartet. You know that’s indicative of listening to other types of things. Because with string instruments you have to be better with writing everything down, you can’t leave anything to chance. I mean it’s a whole slew of string music I’m listening to. And for the big band you have Maria Snider, so many different people, Sarah Jones, Mel Lewis…I opened myself up to all the old big band charts because it’s all there.

IRT: You ever do any arranging for movies?

AH: I had an offer two or three times but I really wasn’t open enough to do it.

IRT: What’s your opinion on hip-hip?

AH: Well I have to be careful on that because I remember in the 80s I looked around and I said “oh, young people are out,” because usually with jazz, up until that point, you had all these various generations…you would always have young people. But then there was no young people and then I start looking back and I said, “it was the period of break dancing and hip hop.” So that was a period when people became environmentally handicapped. You know where they problems and such and such where they couldn’t buy musical instruments. And they had a break with society itself where certain things were re-established…you know like the basic fundamentals of rhythm and monotone, but then as to a byproduct of fusion. Fusion really in a sense really opened the door to those who didn’t want to go through that door where to win awards. In other words to reflect the history in other areas.

IRT: It was also a byproduct of taking music out of the schools.

AH: Oh, well they took the music out of everything, there used to be community centers that changed into daycare center as people started to work. So that’s why I say today is better than maybe it has been in twenty years, because with them streaming music in, the people who are conscious … they can just stream this music as a chance to evolve themselves.

IRT: We can only hope it goes more in that direction.

AH: Well it seems to be, it’s really amazing.

IRT: Right even when I got into jazz, before they had all the internet sites to download from, you had to rely on reviews or taking a chance on buying something or through friends that would buy records.

AH: And that’s expensive.

IRT: It’s real expensive.

AH: And this way, it costs you to download, but there is so much material there is no need, I mean I can’t think for anyone else but there is a lot of material where one can easily catch up and want to understand one thing they can go back…just to have that opportunity without having to spend a fortune is amazing.

IRT: Your new album is probably up on iTunes and all those sites.

AH: I don’t know. Well that’s the good part about being with a big company and it’s been their project. They put as much muscle into it as they can to get as much out of it as they can.

Beastie Boys Promise to Follow-Up Horrible To The Five Boroughs with the “Sick”:

Posted by: Ed.

A newspiece from somewhere online grabbed off my man’s site on Multiply:
The Beastie Boys are finally doing away with those pesky lyrics. The group has announced that they will perform a series of instrumental shows this summer. They promise that this - and everything else they plan to do in the future - will be “sick.”

hi… here’s a few things you might wanna know about..

1. we have a new record coming out
2. it’s gonna be sick
3. we’re playing a bunch of shows this summer (see below)
4. they’re gonna be sick
5. we’re gonna play some instrumental only shows also… (you know..drums..bass..guitar..keyboard..percussion..)
6. better call your doctor..cause they’re gonna be sick
7. it’s gonna be a gala event
8. we’re changing up the website…sick
9. got new gear coming soon…again…sick..
10. go see a tailor and get tapered up…

see you soon….beastie boys

Summer 2007 Tour Dates:

May 27: George, Washington (Sasquatch Festival)
June 10: Lisbon (Alive! Festival)
June 17: Istanbul (Efes Pilsen One Love Festival)
June 22: Scheessel, Germany (Hurricane Festival)
June 24: Neuhasen, Germany (Southside Festival)
June 26: Paris (Le Zenith)
June 28: Werchter, Belgium (Rock Werchter Festival)
June 30: Gdynia, Poland (Heineken Festival)

Thank God! That To The Five Boroughs album was fucking horrible. I actually wrote a blog about it a couple of years back on our old website, which you can find right below this letter. But this is great news that they are finally realizing they are a much better instrumental band than a rap group in 2007, and have modified their steez accordingly.
Jah Bless,
Ed.

Post on www.irt.drivendesign.com from Summer 2003: